Today is election day in several states. While the race in NJ doesn’t seem to be that big of a competition with Chris Christie holding a pretty large lead over Barbara Buono in pre-election polls, things in VA are quite different.

It may not be an extremely close race in my home state with the majority of people leaning toward Terry McAuliffe (D) but its close enough that either candidate from the Big Two could win depending on voter turnout. The red candidate, Ken Cuccinelli (R), running as a Tea-Party supporter, is trailing enough that unless his supporters surprise everybody at the polls, he’s unlikely to win.

While I haven’t been of voting age but a few years now, I have to say this was an awful campaign from both parties. There were almost no ads that didn’t attack the other candidate. Very few ads featured a candidate talking about where they stand on the issues facing us right now. Judging by where Libertarian Robert Sarvis stood in the pre-election polls, it would seem Virginians are not happy with either of our red and blue choices.

Robert Sarvis is on the ballots today as a Libertarian. There are many out there who claim he’s not a Libertarian at all or he’s just a dressed up blue guy trying to steal votes away from The Cooch (Cuccinelli). Regardless, Sarvis has gathered quite a bit of support with his very limited resources. Polls were showing Sarvis having between 5 and 10 percent of the vote before election day.

I’m not a fool. I know that Robert Sarvis has no chance of winning the election. I’m pretty sure he knows it too. But the fact that there is a large group of Sarvis-supporters out there show that people might be getting sick of the polarized political system we have right now. I’m one of those people. I voted for Sarvis.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t vote for him simply to show the other candidates that I dislike them tremendously. I also felt like he best represented where I stand personally on political issues. And after all, isn’t that the point of our “democracy”? To vote for people who can represent you the best way possible? It’s not the “vote for the lesser of two evils” system that so many people seem to think it is. If you don’t like Candidate A or B, don’t vote for him. Unfortunately we don’t always get an option for a Candidate C.

A lot of people blame 3rd parties in elections if their guy didn’t win. “McCain only lost because of Gary Johnson!” When The Cooch loses today, Republicans will blame Sarvis and say: “If all of those people had voted for Cuccinelli, he’d have won hands down!” Well, speaking for myself, I would not have voted at all today if Sarvis hadn’t been in the race. I just don’t think I want either of those guys to be His Excellency.

It’s also my opinion that if Sarvis had been allowed to debate with the other guys, he’d have had an even bigger following, from both the red side as well as the blue side. Its about time that we, as Americans, get over this notion that we have to label ourselves as Republicans or Democrats, or anything at all. We’re Americans, first and foremost. Vote for the candidate who is best for the country, not the guy waving the same flag as you.

We’re a country, not a gang . . .

But no matter where you stand on the political spectrum or the issue of polarization in America, GO VOTE! Get out there and show your support for whoever you choose. Its your right to do so, so go do so.

** UPDATE – 11/6/2013 **

As I predicted, The Cooch lost. The blue guy won. I was also correct in my other prediction, that people would blame Sarvis. He received 7% of the vote which was more than enough to have elected Cuccinelli had they ALL voted for him. Have a look at some of the comments I found in just one article about the election:

“The only reason Cuccinelli lost was because software billionaire Joe Liemandt, who just happens to be a top bundler for President Barack Obama, helped pay for professional petition circulators responsible for getting Virginia Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Robert C. Sarvis on the ballot.” – Yiddishlion

“Proof positive that an independent vote in a regular election is a wasted vote.” – Armand

“What I learned is that the Dems will support party to the death while Republicans would gladly see the demise of their party in order to jump ship and vote for a Libertarian. Cucinelli got Perot’d” – Al

“McAulife barely won only because the Dems paid for and ran a libertarian candidate that took 7% away from Cuccinelli. What it shows me is that the Tea Party remains strong and will do very well in 2014.” – NickV

“Once again a third party candidate with an ego too big for the room refuses to step aside in the last two weeks of an election, which allowed the candidate that he is in least agreement with win the election.” – I don’t think so

But then I found someone who seemed to feel as I do. Someone who came to the same conclusion as I did when Sarvis earned that 7%:

“What it tells us is that extreme left and right politicians WON’T be tolerated. All you elected officials need to get over your party ideology and work for US, the American people. We are bigger than just left/right, black/white, rich/poor issues.” – Eric

I don’t know what else to say. I’m only 23, so I know there are a lot of people out there who will discredit everything I say because I lack experience and that’s fine. But you can’t tell me that you like the current state of affairs in this country. You can’t tell me the system we have is working.

Then again, I guess that’s what 93% of Virginians did yesterday when they voted Red and Blue . . . so enjoy it. Enjoy the never ending back and forth bickering. Enjoy all the lies and deceit. We’ve all earned it and its here to stay.